Gridlock in Istanbul is surprisingly mellow. Our late afternoon cab ride, just a couple of miles from Kurtulus to downtown, quickly became a session of jolt and sit. Several streets converged upon ours and many lanes of traffic became two. Given half an inch, Turkish drivers will take as much as they can get... More...

In Nairobi I join five other tourists, all of us keyed up and anxious to begin our first safari. I climb into the land cruiser and compete for space with backpacks and telephoto lenses so big they obscenely dwarf the cameras attached to them... More...

When you open a guidebook to Amsterdam you find information on famous neighborhoods, buildings and fancy places to dine. You read about nightclubs and, supposedly, the best places to meet with the locals. Still, it seems difficult for expatriates (expats)... More...

My youngest son and I walked up Goreme's main street. Goreme is a tilted town, smack in the center of Turkey's Cappadocia region. The day was sunny, mild and fresh. This was not surprising after yesterday's Byronic thunderstorm... More...

The portrayal of Antarctica in travelogues as a destination that is transforming rapidly due to climate change aroused the interest of my husband and myself. When we saw a trip organised that did not sail via the notoriously stormy Drake's Passage... More...

I don’t know about the Western world, but in India, serious talk about global warming and conservation of the environment has been heard only in the last 15–20 years. Nevertheless, people in India have been living in harmony with nature since time immemorial... More...

Bucharest is an amazing, overwhelming city, advantageously situated between East and West. It is characterized by a strong personality, acquired during its long history. Once named the Little Paris, because its elites and aristocracy were educated in France, many parts of its downtown area are reminiscent of this first love of Romanians... More...

"In 1851, Edward Hargraves discovered a 'grain of gold' in a waterhole near Bathurst. Hargraves was convinced that the similarity in geological features between Australia and the California goldfields (from where he had just returned) boded well for the search of gold in his homeland..." More...